


In The Middle of Most Nights, I Still Replay You

by takemeorleaveme



Category: Last Night (2010), Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, I love this movie so much and i will never stop writing it about my faves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-08 01:35:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14683692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/takemeorleaveme/pseuds/takemeorleaveme
Summary: Jughead sips his black coffee, wincing at the heat, and remembers when he brought her here for the first time.  Wide-eyed and excited to finally be here with him, he couldn’t help but smile at her excitement.  Her green eyes kept darting around trying to absorb everything about this new city that he forced her into coming to.She’s walking out of the bakery now and he smiles at her bag and coffee. She’s struggling to keep a hand on all of it as she holds open the door for other customers.“Betts, need a hand?”He watches her still and look around for the source of his nickname for her.





	1. You caught me off guard

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SoftlyandSwiftly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoftlyandSwiftly/gifts).



Betty swore as she flicked her eyeliner; realizing she flinched when she was connecting the wing to the base. She reached for a q-tip to fix her mistake and caught her own eyes in the mirror. Her husband was in the shower singing a ballad he wrote years before. She frowned, remembering it was about one of their biggest fights. The one that led her to—She leaned over the sink and fixed the smudge instead of lingering on the past.

Betty tied her hair up in her signature ponytail and took a deep breath, walking out of the bathroom to change into her dress for the evening. She took out her pale pink A-line dress and stared at it. Tilting her head to the side, she examined it, looking for something she knew she wasn’t going to find. Her husband came up behind her at some point; she could feel the heat on him from his shower.

“That what you’re wearing tonight? Do I need to wear a tie to match?” Archie always knew exactly what to say.

She turned to him and smiled adoringly, “That would be perfect Arch, thank you.”

He smiled back and pecked her on the cheek, knowing how much she hated when he kissed her on the lips when she had lip-gloss on.

She took off her dressing gown and slipped into her dress, “Zip me up?”

Betty felt his hands slide around her hips before he moved to the zipper to help her; he kissed the back of her neck when he was finished and she turned to tie his tie for him. She finished quickly and set it perfectly back on his chest. He smiled at her, “Ready?”

She nodded and soon found herself in a cab on their way to the gala for Archie’s co-worker’s wife. She was a socialite who just loved giving starving artists their shot. Veronica Lodge was nothing if not generous. The cab arrived at the building that used to be an abandoned apartment building and it looked as though the Upper East Side had joined the peons in Brooklyn for just a moment. Veronica really worked her magic.

Archie helped her out of the cab and took her hand while they entered the building, it was a cool October evening and Betty shivered slightly in the breeze. The autumn weather had just started to arrive with the leaves turning their colors to match.

 

She looked around the room and realized her husband was nowhere to be found. She found Kevin and started asking her usual questions.

“What do you mean you’ve already broken up! I liked him! He was so sweet and funny—that night at your apartment-“

“Was the last time he and I had a nice evening together. He started being, I don’t know, annoying. Very difficult to plan things with, it just got hard to be with him.” Kevin explained.

Betty laughed, “Kevin, you were with him for three months. That’s the good part, you were nowhere near the tough part.”

She shook her head at him and found her husband, talking animatedly to the hostess of the evening. She smiled and then noticed them walk out to the balcony together.

She realized Kevin was speaking to her, “What was that?”

He chuckled, “I said, isn’t it nice that Veronica’s husband is letting her go on the trip tomorrow with the guys?”

“She’s going to Berlin with you?”

Kevin nodded as he swallowed his wine, “Yeah, she’s the reason we landed the account to begin with so, she gets to take the reins with us. Because of her, me and Arch get to fly first class instead of business.”

Betty arched an eyebrow, “Oh I see, you’re excited to hopefully join the mile high club again, huh Kev?”

He laughs at her comment, “Oh Betty you have no idea!”

She finishes her glass of wine and sees her husband come back inside with a laughing Veronica. She approaches the pair.

Archie’s face lights up at the sight of her, but she can’t help but notice the tension in his shoulders, “Betty! I was just coming to look for you; this is Veronica! Veronica, my wife, Betty.”

She smiles and extends her hand, “Its good to meet you, I hear you’re upgrading the boys to first class for the trip. That’s so kind of you.”

Veronica shakes her hand and drops it cordially, “I can’t have my boys slumming it while I’m living the life of luxury, now can I?”

Betty watches her hand slide up Archie’s arm and squeeze his bicep. He flushes.

“Well, it was lovely to meet you, and this gallery is simply wonderful. You’ve out done yourself.” Betty looks at her husband, “Let’s go home shall we? Don’t you still have to pack for Berlin?”

Archie nods and takes his arm out to Veronica’s hand, “I’ll see you at the gate tomorrow Ronnie.”

Veronica demurs, “Oh Archiekins, I’ll won’t be happy until I see you with a carry on!” She turns her attention to Betty, “I bought your book as a bit of light reading for the plane.”

Betty startles at the backhanded compliment, “Thank you, I hope you like it.”

Veronica and Archie share a look before he says, “Let’s go home.” And she follows his lead out of the building and into the cab he’s hailed for them.

She sits quietly in the cab, going over everything she’s just seen. She feels like she’s grasping at straws but if she isn’t, this could change their entire marriage.

She’s stepping out of her heels at their apartment and reaches back for her zipper to already find Archie’s hand there pulling it down for her. She tenses, they have such a routine life, and it’s so seamless.

She walks to the closet and puts on her sleep clothes and finally says the words she’s been desperate to say since they left the party, “Are you sleeping with her?”

Archie stills. He finishes putting on his sleep shirt and looks at her with wide eyes.

“What?”

She clears her throat, “You heard me, are you sleeping with her?”

Archie swallows, “Betty, I would never do that to you. I love you.”

She shakes her head, “A man in love doesn’t let another woman caress his bicep. Actually, not only a man in love but; a married man. Are you attracted to her? Do you want to sleep with her?”

She watches him break eye contact as he all but confirms it with his silence.

She laughs self-deprecatingly, “Well, that certainly makes me comfortable with you going to Berlin tomorrow with her.”

“Kevin will be there too,” are the only words he’s spoken in defense.

She turns and walks out of the room to grab a glass of vodka.

“How much have you had to drink? You always get weirdly possessive when you’ve been drinking,” he tells her.

She almost chokes on her vodka. She swallows and looks up at him, “I didn’t know you could get overly possessive over something that vowed to be yours. Thanks for making me aware of that. And I had one glass of wine with Kevin while you had three beers and two glasses of scotch. Or did you forget about that when you were on the balcony with Veronica, who, I now come to find out, is your pal Ronnie I’ve been hearing about.”

Archie can see her connecting the dots and she scoffs at him, “Really Archie, your new happy hour buddy is Veronica? Your new gym buddy, Ronnie? Your partner on the account, Ronnie?”

He stutters out, “We’re both married, Betty.”

Her eyes narrow, “You of all people know that married people cheat all the time, Archiekins.”

He sighs. “I need to pack, can we talk about this another time?”

She finishes the rest of her glass and shakes her head, she doubts she would ever have this sort of conversation with—she glances over to her book shelf and her eyes dart to Archie, “Sure. We can talk about it when you get back. In two weeks. And if the account closes early, I suggest you take time off in Berlin because I don’t want to see you sooner than two weeks.”

“You’re seriously punishing me right now for being attracted to her?”

She smiles at him, “I’m not punishing you for being attracted to her. I’m upset that you lied about her and about being attracted to her. You don’t want to feel how I feel right now. Doubting the one person I’m never supposed to doubt.”

She walks over to the living room and grabs the blanket off the back of the couch, “Go pack Archie. I won’t distract you.”

He sighs and stares up at the ceiling, “I’m sorry, okay Betty? I love you and I’m married to you. I want to be with you.”

She turns the TV on and waits for him to walk out of the room before she lets out an exasperated sigh.

 

It must be hours later in the night because he’s in the kitchen doing something; she looks over and sees its getting light out, “All packed?”

He looks up at her and nods, “Just making some breakfast so I don’t have to buy airport food.”

She half smiles, “I’m sure the company would reimburse you.”

He cracks an egg into a bowl, making scrambled eggs, his specialty apology breakfast. “I’m sure they would but I wanted to cook my wife breakfast this morning.”

She fully smiles at him, “And why would you want to do that?”

“Because I’m an asshole. I should have told you I was spending time with her but I wanted to avoid this, and I guess by not telling you, I made it happen anyway. Forgive me?”

She gets up from the couch and walks over to lean in the kitchen where he’s cooking. She presses a kiss to his cheek, “Always Arch, for better or worse, remember?”

“Still want me gone for the whole two weeks?”

She nods, “More so because I want to get some writing done.”

He laughs at her, “That’s fair enough. Just so it isn’t so I can think about what I’ve done.”

“Nope. You’re off the hook.”

He smiles and leans over to kiss her. “I love you, Betty.”

“Love you Archie.” She goes over to make coffee and looks back at him, smiling as he makes their breakfast. They’ll be okay, she thinks.

 

 

She’s walking toward him on 7th Street, she’s going to her favorite bakery, he knows it. She’ll go into Cousin John’s Bakery, grab two almond croissants and a latte, and walk over to Prospect Park and sit under her favorite tree, its got just enough back support so you’re not aching after reading or editing for a few hours. He smiles at her predictability. He’s standing at the edge of the sidewalk so he doesn’t block the entrance but can keep an eye on the building.

She hasn’t noticed him yet so he’ll let her get her items before he startles her. It’s been four years since he saw her last and while they emailed for the first year, sporadically, he couldn’t keep hurting himself. Especially not when her signature at the bottom of her emails kept staring him in the face.

 

Jughead sips his black coffee, wincing at the heat, and remembers when he brought her here for the first time. Wide-eyed and excited to finally be here with him, he couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. Her green eyes kept darting around trying to absorb everything about this new city that he forced her into coming to. The Library had been his biggest surprise for her that day but they never made it there, simply because he wanted to taste her skin more than watch her enjoy the books. He doesn’t think she minded so much. The photographs he took of her in their bed are some of his favorites. He revisits them when he needs inspiration. She always did that for him; allow him to become more connected with his creativity. Writing was the love of his life but photography was often his mistress.

 

She’s walking out of the bakery now and he smiles at her bag and coffee. She’s struggling to keep a hand on all of it as she holds open the door for other customers.

“Betts, need a hand?”

He watches her still and look around for the source of his nickname for her. He’d been the only one to call her that in her lifetime and he knew it. She tucked her hair behind her ears, her hair not in its signature pony, for once. He smiled at the look of her, unkempt and beautiful in her running clothes. Her green eyes have finally found him. They widen and her mouth opens a little in shock.

He gives her a large smile and says, “Why Miss Betty, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She rushes over to him and hugs him. His arms wrap around her waist and he absorbs her warmth and inhales the scent of her shampoo, roses with a hint of vanilla. He’s tried to find it but it must be impossible to find, because he’s never smelled it except for when he’s breathing her in.

He feels her breath tickle his neck when she sighs, “ _Juggie.”_

He slowly lets go of her and gets a good look at her, slight bags under her eyes, her eyes which look tired and notices the faintest hint of pink on her cheeks. She’s happy to see him, he decides.

“What are you doing here, it’s been what? Three years?”

“Four, but whose counting?”

She chuckles, “You are, clearly.”

“Alright, you caught me. It’s been four years since I saw you last and I must say, time is your friend because you look breath taking as usual.”

He’s afraid he’s said too much when her breath hitches but he sees her smile and he knows he’s in the clear.

“I’m in town for business, my American publisher wants to go over a few things before we launch over here, do you have time for me?”

She shakes her head; “I will always have time for Jughead Jones, the third. Especially if you being in town means I don’t have to order your books from Ebay.”

He scoffs, “Ebay? I send the first copy of every book to you, Betts.”

He checks his watch and sighs, “I’m late for my meeting, actually. You got here later than usual, so I have to go but I’ll call you later so we can make plans.”

“How long are you here for?” She wonders aloud, he can hear the unasked question of _when will you leave me_ in her voice.

He smiles at her and cannot wait to see her face when he says, “I’m moving back. I’ve decided I missed Brooklyn’s pizza too much.”

Her face changes into something he didn’t expect. He watches her twist her, his eyes follow her hand to watch her gentle fingers land on her--wedding band and he understands why. He softly says, “Don’t worry Betts.”

She smiles up at him, vacant of emotion, and says, “Go to your meeting and we can meet up later, okay?”

He nods, “I’ll see you later then.”

 

 

She watches him walk away, completely awestruck that he’s here. That he was really in front of her, she didn’t imagine him. When she had gone into the bakery, she noticed someone leaning but she wrote it off as her mind just placing him there, as it always does when she goes to the bakery every Thursday. It had been their tradition when she first moved here for him.

He took off every Thursday from writing so he could spend time with her and he was never distracted. She grew to love Thursdays because of it. Every other day she was living with a creative monster that never stopped tapping away on his keyboard, which she admired, but it was tiresome; coming back to someone who wasn’t really there. Betty remembers having that as a soundtrack in the background of her studies: tap, tap, long pause, frantic pressing of buttons followed by silence with the sound of a mug being placed back on the tabletop. She smiles at the memories.

 

She had met Jughead six years before, on summer break from her last year in college. She and Archie were on a break from being college sweethearts because Betty wasn’t sure of she could spend the rest of her life with him. He was positive he wanted her but Betty held onto her doubts. _More like clung, she thinks._

 

She was walking along in London, horribly lost, soaking wet thanks to a random storm and she ran into him on Gower Street, near Euston station. She started apologizing and he kept looking at her. Finally she snapped and walked away but he jogged after her offering an apology and to buy her a cup of tea to keep her warm. She then burst into tears again because his was the first American accent she had heard in weeks and gratefully accepted his offer.

They became fast friends, and then suddenly she was waking in his arms wondering how she woke anywhere else. _Morning Betts, how does a cup of horrible instant coffee sound?_

Before she knew it, the end of her program arrived and he was returning to Brooklyn to finish writing his book that he was taking a break from, what she didn’t know was that his stay in London was originally three days that he extended into three months to be with her. When he told her this, she told him she would go to New York with him and finish her degree from Columbia, instead of Penn, thoughts of Archie long gone.

He was thrilled, to say the least. They got an apartment together, and were happy together for the eight months it took Betty to finish her degree in journalism but their relationship came to a quick end when he told her he had to go to London for a year and tour his book around Europe. He asked her to go with him but she couldn’t since she accepted her own job at the Journal writing finance.

_They fought for weeks about it; each of them wanting to sacrifice their career for the other but it was Betty who knew Jughead needed this. He needed to prove to himself he was worth being at the top of a bestseller list. One day she very quietly bought her own apartment and sat him down. He arrived home with such determination, proudly exclaiming, “I figured it out! We can both stay. I talked to my editors and I can go back and forth whenever I need to. I fixed it Betts, we can stay.”_

_“Jughead, I need you to sit down and listen to me, please,” she had told him, tears in her eyes._

She remembers how defeated he looked and how much she didn’t want to end heir relationship but they needed to put their careers first. She still stands by what she did. Even though she cried herself to sleep for weeks clutching his t-shirt.

After all that hurt, Betty ran into Archie after two years of not seeing him and easily fell back into their roles. They married six months later. Betty noticed her emails to Jughead stopped getting replies when her automatic signature became Betty Andrews instead of Betty Cooper.

 

She wonders how he knew to find her but then again, he had helped her move into the apartment, always a gentleman, she lives in with Archie. She kept up with his career and knew how successful he was in Europe and she was so proud. She remembers seeing him photographed with some socialite, a red headed girl, she burned the magazine as kindle for a fire one night.

Her three and a half years of marriage with Archie were comfortable. There was always love in every gesture but there wasn’t any passion. At least not the passion she had with Jughead. He was such a raw soul that she knew whomever he ended up marrying would be extremely lucky. His passion for his work sometimes eclipsed everything else in his life but he always came out of it for her.

 

She walked into her apartment and couldn’t believe she had seen him after all this time. She laughed and pulled out her special book on the bookshelf that Archie never touched. It was a copy of Howl filled with Polaroid’s, poems, movie tickets, museum tickets, play stubs, and memories of her time with Jughead. She flips through the photos and finds one her sister took of them. It was New Year’s Eve and she remembers it so clearly.

 

_He handed her a flute of champagne and smiles at her, eyes filled with warmth, “Betts, this is nice isn’t it?”_

_She looks around the room at her parents, her sister, his parents, his sister all laughing and enjoying the evening. There was a suggestion of going to see the ball drop but it was too cold and their apartment had a roof where they could watch it. Her mom was laughing with his mother and she just drank in the happiness of the evening thinking, this is where I’m supposed to be._

_He stood behind her and kissed her cheek, she laughed and turned slightly in his arms, kissing him fully without any regard for propriety. She heard the click of the camera and turned to see Polly standing there with a huge grin on her face, “That’s for the wedding album, Betty!”_

_She blushed and tried to swat at her but Jughead kept his arms firm in place and whispered in her ear, “She’s not wrong.”_

_She leaned back into his chest, never feeling quite so at home before that moment_.

 

Jughead is scrolling through pictures on his phone during the meeting because, really, he has better things to do. He knows he’ll have more work in the States and he’s extremely happy to be home. Europe was fantastic but there was a certain blonde missing around every corner. He finally looks up and meets the eyes of his agent and says, ”David, I’m fine with whatever. Just make sure I have two days off a week, and I’m good. I need two weeks off after every tour leg and that’s it. Just make the rest fall into place, I trust you.”

His agent looks at him, “Jug, why are you so anxious?”

“I have plans for later.”

An eyebrow raises, “Plans? Since when do you have plans?”

Jughead smirks, “Since I became hell bent on getting the love of my life back.”

His agent laughs, “Well, good luck with that.” He sighs, “Yeah, go on, you’re no use to me distracted.”

Jughead shoots up from his chair and walks out of the building. He hops on the subway and heads to his apartment on 9th and Union, which has always been around the corner form Betty’s place; she lives on 5th and Union. He heads up the stairs and finally sees his door. He jiggles the key into the lock and shoves it open; he should really get that fixed.

He tosses his keys on the bookshelf and looks at his wall of portraits and his eyes always land on her eyes staring back at him.

It’s his favorite picture he’s taken. Betty lays amongst tousled sheets from the night before, wearing his button up shirt; she’s smiling at him as if she has a secret on him, and she probably did at the time. The light is streaming in from the outside at an angle where her blonde hair is a halo and her green eyes are striking.

He gets his phone and calls her. It rings a grand total of four times before a breathless voice answers, “Hello?”

“Betts. What are your feelings on pizza and a double feature?”

He can hear her chuckle, “Only if I get to pick the movies and you pick the pizza.”

He smiles, “Sounds like a deal.” He hesitates, “Does your, uh, husband want to join us?”

She pauses, “He’s in Berlin for the next two weeks, so no. He doesn’t”

Jughead laughs into the phone; “I get Betty Cooper to myself for two weeks? The Gods have blessed me with great fortune.”

He knows she’s smiling when she says, “They always did have a soft spot for Jughead Jones.”

“So, come over around 6:30? I’ll time the pizza delivery just right, promise.”

“At our old pla—Your old place?” She asks.

“Yeah Betts, our old place. Haven’t moved, and it hasn’t changed. Think there’s still a bottle of your perfume around here somewhere.”

He knows exactly where it is; it’s in his nightstand, bottom drawer. When they first broke up and she moved out, he would spray her pillow with it. He would never tell a soul but there were mornings where he would wake up to her phantoms, dream Betty lingering in his conscious mind long after he had awoken, her scent enveloping him.

“See you soon, Juggie.” She hangs up first and he looks around, needing to clean up and unpack so that it doesn’t look like he got off the plane, dropped of his suitcases and when directly to the bakery; even if that’s exactly what he did.

 

She’s watching her self get ready from the outside, as if this isn’t Betty Andrews getting ready to see her ex-boyfriend. She’s watching her self get ready like she’s still Betty Cooper, girlfriend of the aspiring author Jughead Jones. She shimmies into her skinny jeans and finds a sweater in her closet that says casual but not sloppy. She goes to her mirror and debates on adding another layer of mascara before remembering that Jughead always liked her more natural while Archie loves her all dolled up.

Betty sprays her perfume, and remembers the advice a department store employee once told her, ‘Spray your perfume wherever you want to be kissed.’

She spritzes her neck and her wrists in lieu of places she prefer to be kissed.

With one last look in the mirror, she decides to leave her hair down, if she’s not going to be Betty Andrews, she might as well pretend she’s Betty Jones.

 

The short three knocks sound on his door and he startles, she’s early. He should have expected that though. He goes to the door to find a hue of blonde he’s dearly missed and a sweater he forgot he purchased. “That’s where it’s been!”

She looks at him strangely, “Where what’s been?”

He gestures for her to come in, “You’re wearing my sweater.”

She crosses the threshold of the door and takes her purse off her shoulder, “Jughead, I’ve had this sweater for years, it’s definitely mine.”

“Then where did you buy it? And how did the hole in the left arm get there?’

He watches her check and sure enough, there’s a slight hole in the left sleeve near the hemline. She blushes; he can tell she’s trying to remember. He decides to throw her a bone. He walks and sits down on the couch, gesturing for her to do the same; she follows after a split second.

“It was a cool morning in March and you refused to put on a sweater before we left the house, insisting that it would warm up. But of course, it didn’t and the great boyfriend that I am, I took my sweater off and made you put it on because I, and I quote, “Betts, you’re cute but you won’t be as cute if the tip of your nose gets lost thanks to frostbite.” End quote.”

She stares at his face for a moment, “And then I fell asleep in it and our rule was once I fell asleep in it, it was mine.”

He nods, “See, told you it was mine.”

She laughs, “I’ve missed you.”

He nods, “Missed you more than you know.”

He watches her take in the space again, eyes getting focused and unfocused periodically.

“You’ve barely changed it.”

He shrugs, “Why mess with a good thing?”

“Why indeed,” he hears her mumble.

 

The pizza arrives with out much fanfare. He clears his throat and plays the first movie she’s picked: The Outsiders followed by Crybaby. He’s pleased with her choices and settles in for the night. She toes off her shoes and gets comfortable on the couch, leaning on his shoulder before he gets the hint to wrap his arm around her and pull her closer.

She still flinches every time a knife gets pulled and hears her sniffle when Johnny dies. He holds her tighter and kisses the top of her head to comfort her.

He gets up to use the toilet and comes back out to find her glaring at her phone.

“That’s not a happy look,” he notes.

She shakes her head and scoffs, “I’m really not in the mood to talk about it just yet, can we get back to the movies?” He nods and obliges her.

He plays Crybaby and will never get over how highly ridiculous this movie is but she loves it so he suffers for her. His hand has found its way into her hair, playing with it, twisting it on his fingers, lulling her into the perfect state of relaxed. He chuckles when she makes a noise of protest when he stops since the movie is over.

He looks at her and sees that she has taken most of the couch and has her head in his lap. He’s content and doesn’t want to move but her phone hasn’t stopped lighting up so he knows she has to leave. He gently shifts and she bolts upright, as if she realized what she was doing.

“I’m so sorry Jughead, I shouldn’t have leaned on you, much less fallen asleep on you.”

He smiles at her, “Oh Betty, you know I don’t mind.” His hand reaches out to caress her cheek and his thumb stroked her cheekbone. Her skin is just as soft has he remembers. He wonders if she tastes the same. He wonders if married Betty is just as addictive as unmarried Betty.

 

He’s been looking at her with those eyes all God damned night and her body is alight with anticipation. After he stroked her cheek, she’s about ready to lose it. She takes a deep breath and steels herself. She was going to do the wrong thing for once in her life and she was going to enjoy it.

 

She turned her head in his hand and kissed his palm. She saw confusion enter his eyes.   She moved her body so that she was straddling his lap, like she had done so many times before. Her eyes never left his as she moved and she threaded her finger into his hair, his gorgeous jet-black hair, and his eyes rolled in the back of his head. She still knew his body so well. He groaned when she began to massage his head and he opened his eyes to meet hers. She knew there was a decent amount of lust shining through but she hoped he saw what else lingered there. Whatever he saw had him surging forward to connect their lips after so long.

 

It was like having his fantasy come to life. He had dreamed and imagined this exact scenario but never thought it would come to him so quickly. He had his arms around Betty again, after four years of being empty without her, his arms had finally left complete. He was wrong about how she would taste. There was no difference. She tasted like the only woman he had ever loved. Betty kept making the sweetest noises and he moved his attention from her lips to her neck, while his hands caressed her ass and she ground into his lap for some relief of friction. He couldn’t take her on the couch; their reunion deserved their sacred place, their bed. He’d never been with anyone else in this apartment, even when he was heartbroken, no other woman, except his sister went into this room. He pulled back from her neck, and looked into her eyes, he wanted to make sure this was still what she wanted and she must have known the question she was asking because she nodded ever so slightly and that was all the confirmation he needed to carry her to their bedroom and place her gently on the bed while he began removing his shirt.

“Wait,” she whispered and he froze. Looking at her with unrestrained fear.

“I’d like to take your shirt off, I love those button downs after all.” She smiled coyly and got onto her knees to get over to him and began to finger open the buttons of his shirt. He’d forgotten this was one of her favorite things to do. She loved his body and all the wonderful things he could to with it. He watched her unwrap her present and he was shocked at how bold she was being. “What have you done with Betty Andrews, hmm?” he wondered aloud.

She paused in her ministrations and became very serious; “I’m not sure, maybe she was never really real to begin with.”

Her hand was still on his chest, he held it in his, “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, okay?”

She shakes her head and pulls her hand out of his, “I’ve never wanted to do anything as much as I want this. I want to feel you Juggie, I want to remember how you make me feel, how you loved me. I need to feel that way again. Please?”

He couldn’t deny her anything four years ago, why would he ever think it would be different?

“Of course Betts, I’ll do anything you ask of me. Always.”

He kisses her and finishes taking off his shirt, because he needs to feel her skin on his. He jerks her sweater upwards and hopes she gets the hint; she does and is pulling away just enough to throw it to somewhere in the dark abyss that is their room.

She’s a vision come to life in the soft glow from the streetlights outside the building, ethereal without trying to be. He kisses her deeply, holding her close to his body so she can feel how much he still wants her, how much he still loves her.

 

Betty’s body is aflame, she’s high on the only drug she’s had in her veins and she never wants to stop feeling this way.

Jughead pulls away, panting, and looks intensely at her with his baby blues, “Are you sure because I’m not sure I can stop if you ask me to.”

She brushes his fallen locks away from his eyes, thinks of her husband and tries to remember the last time he looked at her like this. Archie never looked at her like she was a fallen angel, he never kissed her with this much ferocity, and Archie, she concludes, doesn’t love her.

She steadies herself and looks into his eyes, “I’m sure.”

 

It’s as if the floodgates have been opened, his ministrations are renewed with a sort of giddiness when he touches her and he marvels at her skin, her beautiful body. He’s dying to ask the questions he has but they can wait because he undoes her jeans and finds her wet and ready for him.

He groans, “Christ Betty, is this for me?”

His thumb is circling her clit and his fingers are probing her, hitching and finding her weak spot, she moans. “Is it Betty? Does your husband get you this wet?”

She shakes her head.

“Come on Betts, wanna hear you say it. Want to know who does this to you.” He’s goading her and he knows it but his ego needs a bit of stroking.

“Only you Juggie, always you, only. He never. Oh—again, there, please,” Comes her reply and he doubles his efforts in making her orgasm just with his hands.

He feels her clench around his fingers and hears her keening, knowing she’s coming around his fingers, he lets her come down while he strokes her lazily, removes his fingers and licks them clean. She watches him with unfiltered lust clouding her vision.

“Just as sweet as always, Betty.” He tells her.

She surges forward and turns them so he’s lying on his back, “Yeah Jug? Do I taste like any of those other girls?”

He swallows a laugh because; “No one tastes like you do Betty. You’re the only flavor I crave.”

She seems satisfied and leaves the bed for a moment to strip out of her jeans completely, Jughead follows suit and soon is staring at the love of his life, and he smiles at her unhooking her bra. He grins at her and reaches for one of the drawers in the nightstand and pulls out a condom. He throws it on the bed and turns to see Betty pick it up and examine it.

“I—I don’t want you to think we have to but I ju-“

“I don’t think we’ll need it,” she states.

Jughead deflates, only slightly, “Of course, I’m sorry for assuming that you-“

“It’s not that Jug,” she laughs, “I don’t want to use it. I have an IUD. We don’t need the condom.”

He stares at her and smiles, “Then come back here so I can show you exactly how much you’ve been missed.”

She climbs back on the bed and lines up her core with his and grinds on him, she gasps, “Please, Juggie.”

He pushes himself up and turns her onto her back, slowly removing her panties before he shrugs off his boxers and he looks down at her, “I know you hate when I use the word perfect but, Christ Betty. I’m having a hard time finding another word for how good you look.”

She smirks up at him, “Maybe you don’t need to tell me; maybe you should show me.”

“That sounds like a fair alternative.”

He kisses her and gropes her breast, tweaking a nipple, relishing in her breathy moans. He begins to enter her and it feels like he’s coming home. He opens his eyes to find her looking at him with tears in her eyes, “Betts?”

She shakes her head, “I’m happy Jughead, so happy. Don’t stop, feels so good.”

He nods his head, “Never stop, you’re perfect, my own slice of heaven, so tight, so warm. Love being inside you.”

She moans, “Harder Juggie, please.”

He pistons into her with renewed passion, driven on making this amazing for her, he won’t last much longer, he kisses her neck and moves a hand between them to pinch her nub and she cries out, he can feel her walls flutter, so he goes to his old trick and flips them so she’s on top and her hips begin to undulate in a practiced way. She looks so confident above him and soon she’s riding him with wild abandon, and he keeps driving into her until she lets out a garbled yelp and he can feel her come apart on him, which is the catalyst for his orgasm. He feels her collapse onto his chest and he moves to readjust them, trying to pull out of her and her walls clamp down on him.

“I just want to feel you inside me of a while longer, please.”

He can’t deny her so he shifts them to the side while still being inside of her heat.

In these last four years, he’s never felt so spent or content in his life.

There’s a phone vibrating somewhere in their apartment and he cannot bring himself to find it so he puts an arm around Betty and pulls her closer while he drifts out of consciousness.

The last thing he hears is a soft, “Missed you so much Juggie, glad you came home.”

 

Archie puts his phone on his bedside table in a hotel somewhere in Berlin, “I’ll call her tomorrow,” he says.

She sighs into his chest, “Whatever you need to do to make yourself feel better Archiekins.”

Betty stretches and realizes she’s not on her normal side of the bed. Archie will get mad at her for not staying over on her side until she feels the arm around her waist tighten. Her eyes fly open and they’re met with the sight of tanned skin littered with tattoos, tattoos she’s missed more than she’s willing to admit.

She smiles into his chest and buries herself deeper into his arms. Finding comfort in his scent and their bed. Their gloriously comfortable bed, she’d forgotten how much she loved this bed. She sighs contentedly.

“Bout time you woke up. I figured you’d be up with the sun ready for a run,” he tells her.

She laughs, “I don’t run anymore, Archie says it stresses him out when I get up earlier than him.”

Jughead furrows a brow, “But you love running?”

She shrugs, “I didn’t think it was worth the fight so I gave it up.”

He pulls away from her and gets out of bed to relieve himself. He walks unashamed to the bathroom and he can feel her gaze upon him. She sits up in bed, holding the sheet up to cover her breasts, suddenly shy, feels the evidence of the night before between her legs. Usually she makes Archie wear a condom, because she hates this part with him but with Jughead, she wants every aspect of this to be as natural as possible. She’s in an ideal world at the moment and she’s reveling in her good fortune.

He comes out of the bathroom and she smiles at him, “I’d like to shower but I don’t think I have anything to change into once I get out.”

He stares at her, “Oh Betts, as if I’d be that unprepared.”

He walks to the wardrobe on the opposite side of the room and opens her former side, revealing clothes she hasn’t seen in years.

“Make yourself at home babe. I’ll grab us breakfast while you wash up.” He walks out of the room, picking up his boxers and throwing them on quickly.

“Wait,” she calls after him. He turns to look at her from the living room, “Why don’t you hold the idea of breakfast and keep me company in the shower?” She drops the sheet to her waist and he wordlessly walks to the bathroom and turns the water on.

 

 

Archie is at dinner with Ronnie, in her room since she insisted on ordering room service, instead of exploring Berlin and he isn’t mad about it. She smiles at him over her wine glass and takes a generous sip.

“How’s the wife?”

He shrugs, “Fine I suppose. She hasn’t returned my texts but that’s probably thanks to the time difference more than anything else.”

She nods, “So Archiekins, when are you going to tell her?”

“Tell her what?”

Veronica sighs, “When are you going to tell her you’re leaving her?”

Archie shakes his head, “I’m not leaving my wife. I love her.”

“I’m very sure you love her, Archie, I’m not so sure you’re in love with her when you very clearly love me,” Veronica tells him.

He reaches for his glass of beer and takes a generous gulp.

“Women have an intuition about these things, besides, you two don’t belong together. If you did, and you did love her as much as you say you do, you wouldn’t be here with me.”

He nods, “Deep down, I know Betty and I shouldn’t be together but I can’t do that to her. We’re happy, you know?”

Veronica raises an eyebrow and looks into her glass of wine, “Sure you are Archie.”

“But tell me this, when you two were apart, did you miss her?”

Archie is silent for a beat, staring into his beer, he looks up at Veronica, “I didn’t even realize she was gone at first, then I saw pictures of her on Facebook looking extremely happy with some guy and I didn’t feel guilty that I didn’t miss her. She was happy. Why care?” He pauses, “When we got back together, I knew she didn’t love me. I could tell she was settling for me but I didn’t care. I thought I loved her. I thought that since we were high school and college sweethearts, we belonged together.”

Veronica nods, “Does she still talk to this other guy?”

He shrugs, “They use to email but I’m not sure anymore.”

Veronica moves to his side of the table and boldly sits on his lap, “Do you miss her right now?”

He shakes his head, “No.”

She smiles and connects their lips, after a brief kiss she pulls away slightly, “I didn’t think so.”

 

Betty swats Jughead’s hand away from her ass since he cannot keep his hands to himself and she gives him a pleading look, “Please, not in public, you know I hate it.”

He looks at her oddly, “What are you talking about? I ‘ve always touched you like this?”

They’re on their way to a dinner with Jughead’s publisher and agent, who happen to be married, which took Jughead an hour to convince Betty to come and a session between her legs. Not that he minded.

She pauses and thinks back to when they were together and he’s right. He always had a hand in her pocket, and arm around her, a kiss pressed into her hair, arms around her waist normal things. It was when Archie did it; she flinched away.

Betty looks at him and smiles, “I’m sorry Jug, you can, of course, have your hand in my back pocket.”

He grins and pulls her close enough to slide his hand into her pocket and give the flesh there a good squeeze.

They arrive at the restaurant and a couple that she assumes are the people they’re dining with greets them warmly.

“Jughead! Glad you made it, we’ve been dying to talk to you about a few things. Plus, this is our favorite restaurant. So it’s a win-win,” the man says. He glances at her then to Jughead, “I didn’t know you were seeing someone. I’m Reggie and this is my wife Anne.”

She holds out her hand to shake both of theirs, “Betty Cooper. Lovely to meet both of you.”

“Cooper? The Betty Cooper. We are dining with The Betty Cooper?” Reggie exclaims.

Betty startles, “If we could stop saying my name like that it would be much appreciated.”

Jughead looks nervous as he explains, “Reg and Anne have known me for about eight years. I had to explain why I stayed in London for three months and why I almost didn’t tour the book in Europe all those years ago.”

Anne nods, “He was so heartbroken when you two ended things, I thought I was going to lose him forever. But he came out of it somehow.”

Betty looks at Jughead and then down at her wedding rings. She gingerly takes them off and places them in her clutch.

“We should sit, right?”

Dinner is a casual affair with witty conversations and lighthearted jokes. Betty’s having a marvelous time, until her phone goes off with a FaceTime call from Archie. She freezes, unsure of what to do. Jughead notices and looks down at the phone. He clears his throat and gestures for her to take the call. She excuses herself and goes outside the restaurant.

“Who called her?” Reggie asks

Jughead sighs into his beer, “Her husband.”

Reggie laughs, “Good one man. But really. Who?”

Jughead stares at him. Signaling that he isn’t kidding.

Anne sighs, “I wondered why I kept reading these finance articles by a Betty Andrews. I kept thinking it sounded familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. What are you doing Jughead?”

He shrugs, “I love her. The reason we couldn’t be together isn’t there anymore. I want to be with her. Simple enough. We can make it work. I know we can.”

Reggie shakes his head, “She’s married Jug. You can’t fix married.”

“She doesn’t love him,” he defends.

 

“I can barely hear you Archie, what’s going on?”

The sound comes in clear as day but she needs an excuse to get off this call.

“I said, we need to talk when I get home. I’ve been thinking.”

She scoffs, “About what Archie? Honestly, if it’s about Ronnie, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

He shakes his head, “I think we need to see a counselor to save our marriage.”

She laughs aloud, “Archie. You cannot be serious. I’m hanging up. “

She ends the call without further consideration and goes back into the restaurant.

 

Betty sits down at the table and is approached by a familiar face, “Betty! I thought that was you!”

She looks up to see Kevin’s boyfriend (ex-boyfriend? She isn’t sure) James smiling at her.

“Oh my goodness hi! James this is Jughead, Reggie and Anne. Friends from out of town,” she explains.

James nods, “I just wanted to say hi, you all enjoy your evening.”

“Bye James!”

She turns back to her food and realizes what just happened. Jughead has his arm around her shoulders, and she’s leaning into his chest while she eats her food. James saw all of it. And he could tell Archie. Who apparently already wants to talk about their marriage? Great.

 

Jughead and Betty are walking home from dinner and he asks her if she needs to get anything from her apartment. She nods and asks him to come along with her. He holds her hand the entire way home and can’t help but know this feels right.

“Just give me a few minutes. I’m gonna pack a bag for a few days, if that’s okay.”

He smiles at her, “Pack for a year, I don’t really care. I just want you by my side, always.”

Jughead watches her go to her room and pack a few things. He walks around the living room and finds the bookshelf well stocked. He smiles at his own titles on them and tilts his head when he finds a copy of his favorite book, Howl. He pulls it off the shelf and finds it heavier than his copy.

He opens it to find a catalog of their relationship. The movie ticket form the night they first had sex, the play ticket from their first time seeing The Cursed Child in London, she even has the museum ticket form the time he took her to Boston and said he loved her in front of The Dance at Bougival by Renoir.

There’s a Polaroid of Betty with his sister, JB, and he smiles at it. Remembering the day the day they first met fondly.

 

_“Jughead, please, I want to meet her. You’re clearly obsessed with her, come on. Please?”_

_Jughead looks at her while he drinks his coffee; his weekly FaceTime with her while he travels is one of the things that kept his life normal before he began seeing Betty._

_“Jb, I’m not obsessed with her. I love her. There’s a difference.”_

_She huffs at him, “That’s an even bigger reason why I should meet her!!!”Betty walks through his apartment door in London and smiles at him, “Hi Juggie. I went to Tesco’s and got us a few comforts from home. Have you missed PopTarts? Cause I haven’t had one for years and I saw them on the shelf and I started craving them. “_

_He looks down at the computer, “Betty, come meet my sister, Jellybean.”_

_Betty hesitates while she hears a shriek of excitement coming from the computer, “I can come back later, you don’t have to do this.”_

_He smiles at her, “I know I don’t have to, I want to. Now come here.”_

_She rounds the corner to his side of the table and waves at the screen, “Hi, I’m Betty.”_

_He watches Jellybean look from face to face and watches a slow smile came over her features, “You two are going to have the cutest babies on this planet, holy shit.”_

_Jughead laughs and Betty stares, unsure of what to say._

_“Uh. Well, it was lovely meeting you, I’ll leave you to it.”_

_She walks into the bedroom and the door clicks shut._

_Jellybean looks at Jughead with a serious expression, “Don’t fuck this up Jughead. I saw how you looked at her._

_He smiles at the screen, “Trust me. I’m gonna marry her one day.”_

_He hangs up the call and goes to find Betty in the shower. He thinks about joining her but he’d rather sneak attack her in the bedroom when she’s finished._

 

Jughead is pulled out of the memory when he hears footsteps approaching him.

He looks up to see her standing in front of him.

“Why do you have all of these things?” he inquires.

She registers what’s in his hands and goes to take it from him, he pulls it closer to his body, “No, tell me why you have all of these things, cataloged, saved, organized and in my favorite book no less, Betty.”

She swallows, “I..I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Lose me? Betty you’re the reason you lost me to begin with!” He throws the book on the floor, papers flutter out of the pages and, it’s quite representative, he thinks for a moment.

She looks him straight on, “I am very aware of that, okay?”

He laughs cruelly at her, “Oh come on Betty. You’re the one who didn’t want us to work to begin with. You kept saying it was too good; we were too right for each other, that the other shoe had to drop sometime. You doomed us from the start.”

She shook her head, “No Jug—“

“Save it,” he cuts her off, “I love you. Still. And I will do anything to get you back but I cannot be with someone who doesn’t actually want to be with me. So if you are truly happy with Archie, I’ll let you go. But if there is the slightest chance you aren’t, I will keep fighting. And before you say anything, I want you to look at your life ten years from now, imagine it with one of us then the other.”

He pauses, thrusting the book back into her hands, “If I was Archie, I’d have never married you. I would have seen how much of you belonged to someone else and ended it.”

“Jughea—“

“I’m going back to my apartment alone. You need to think and you need to process. Go for a run for fuck’s sake. Write something. Just. Take the time to think about our future instead of trying to have the clichéd one, okay?”

He turns and walks out the door before he loses his nerve.

 

Berry watches Jughead go and she can barely think.

She doesn’t know how long she stands there or how long she’s been crying but she knows he’s right. She knows he isn’t the one in the wrong this time. She’s fucked this all up and somehow needs to fix it.

 

Archie rolls over in the hotel bed, uncomfortable for some reason. He opens his eyes to a back that he hasn’t memorized over the years and sees jet-black hair he starts to recognize.

He internally flinches because he’s proved Betty right. He’s screwed over his entire marriage.

Veronica rolls over to face him and smiles, “Good morning Archiekins, ready to close the account?”

He pulls her to his chest, swallows his guilt, and kisses her forehead, “More than ready.”

She burrows into his chest and sighs, “Is it like this with Betty?”

He shrugs, “It’s different. Not a bad different. Just different. She’s been such a constant in my life for so long—“

“Except for when you were apart,” she interjects.

“Except for when we were apart. You’re right.”

“Did you date when you two broke up?”

He pauses for a moment. Thinking of all the blind dates, and random hook ups he had during the years they were apart.

“I did but none that meant anything.”

“What about Betty? Did she date?”

Archie swallows, remembering the sting of her selfies in London with a man who made her eyes seem brighter than the previous pictures she uploaded with him. He wonders if they have the same sparkle they use to.

“I told you she did. She fell in love with someone else. “

Veronica pulls back, “And? Do tell. You dangled that info in front of me like a bone last night and I must know everything now.”

Clearly her memory left many things to be desired, if he had to tell her a few times, nonetheless, he continued.

“They met in London, after we broke up. He’s a writer. He’s very successful in Europe. Betty thinks I don’t know she buys his books, but I do. I can tell when she does. She’s always reading the dedication multiple times.” He shakes his head and rolls his eyes, “I remember when I read the first dedication. I was so angry. I think that’s when I knew officially I wasn’t her first choice. Subconsciously, of course.”

“What did it say?”

“The first book said: To the blonde who changed everything. The second book said: To green eyes and pale pink cheeks. The third book said: To high ponytails and beanies. The most recent said: To the one who got away, I hope you come back.”

Veronica whistles, “He really loves her still, doesn’t he?”

“It’s hard to not love Betty, you know? Falling in love with her is like breathing. You don’t know you’re doing it but suddenly, you’re aware of it when you think about it.”

“Do you think she sees him?”

“I know they use to email, I found one open on her laptop once, before we got married. After we got married, they seemed to stop. I thought he had moved on but it’s clear he hasn’t. “

Veronica sighs and sits up in bed, “Come on, we have work to do and exploring to do later. I won’t let Berlin be wasted on you.”

Archie smiles at her and obliges her wishes, how can he not?


	2. You looked just as beautiful this morning

Jughead wakes up to the sun blinding him on his couch, he slept like shit, and he can tell by how stiff his body is. He checks his phone and sees four missed calls from Betty and two voicemails.

He groans and gives in, he presses play on the oldest one.

He hears a sniffle, and a watery voice belonging to Betty saying, “Juggie, I had to. You know how much I loved; love you. I had to keep something of us. We were too special—please call me back. I don’t want us to end like this. Jug. Please.”

The voicemail ends abruptly, as if she dropped her phone from her hands shaking.

He’d be lying if he said her words didn’t affect him. It was clear she meant to keep those mementos as a good thing, not out of spite.

He hit play on the second one, from early this morning. “Hi Jug. I, uh, just wanted to call and say that, I’m sorry. I know that what we did last night was unfair to you and I respect you too much to hurt you.” She takes a deep breath, “When Archie gets back from Berlin; I’m planning on leaving him. I wanted you to be the first to know.” She sighs, “I shouldn’t have married him in the first place, “ her voice wobbles, “especially not when I was still in love with you. “ She stutters on her inhale, “I love you so much Jughead. You’re it for me and I knew it when you ordered me an Earl Grey in England instead of English Breakfast.” She laughs, “Or when you kissed away my tears when I was homesick. Or when—shit I’m rambling. Just. Call me. Please?”

He’s smiling at the end of her message.

 

He calls his sister instead of calling Betty, she answers on the third ring, “Jughead, long time no American number, what’s up big brother?”

“Hey JB, you got time for me?”

She laughs, “Always for you.”

Jughead launches into everything that’s happened in the past few days and by the end of it JB starts laughing, “Only you and Betty would fuck each other up so much because you love each other.”

“Thanks for the support there, JB.”

“I mean really. She’s married Jughead. I would have told you to leave well enough alone if you told me what you planned to do.”

“I know. Which is why I didn’t tell you.”

She sighs, “So, do you really think she’s gonna leave him?”

He swallows, “I really do JB, Betty isn’t a liar, you know?”

“Unless you’re her husband.”

“That’s really beside the point Jellybean. Betty and I are old souls who belong together. I know how stupid that sounds but I feel better when I’m with her. A better version of me.”

Jellybean smiles at him, “I know you’re better with her, I’m not blind. Has she ever talked about her doubts about her marriage?”

He thinks back to their emails, her mentions of seeing someone, her hesitation at telling him more. “Never, she’s always kept it separate. We would talk about everything else though.”

“Maybe just be friends for a while. No sleeping together, no kissing, no nothing. Just put the brakes on. If she is serious about ending her marriage, she will.”

He nods, “Sage advice from my annoying little sister.”

Jellybean laughs into the phone, “What can I say Jughead, I’ve got a life time of knowledge.”

 

Veronica grabs his hand but he disengages from holding it, “I’m gonna call Betty to check in on her. Give me a few minutes, okay?”

She nods, “Take your time Archie.” She walks into the bathroom to get ready, giving him privacy.

He taps his wife’s name on the screen and waits for it to connect. It rings a few times before she answers, “Archie. Hi.”

Her voice is off, like it hasn’t been used in a while. “Hey Betty, how’s New York?”

“It’s good. Getting colder by the day. I’ve been writing a little bit here and there but I got interrupted.”

He scrunches his face, “By what?”

She sighs on the other end, he can see her sitting at her desk, fidgeting with a pen, “An old friend surprised me this week, he said he was moving back.”

Archie’s blood runs cold, “Your friend? A writer friend?”

“How’d you know!” she exclaims brightly.

“I had a hunch,” comes his reply. “When did he get back?”

“Oh a few days ago, we went out to dinner with his agent and his publicist. He’s launching a new series in the states. I’m excited for him.”

Veronica emerges from the bathroom, “Archie, do you want to join me and Kevin for dinner?”

“Is that Veronica?”

“Yeah it is,” he tells her.

“Well, I’ll let you get back to work. I’ll see you in a few days, okay?”

“Right. See you soon. Bye Betty.” He ends the call before he hears her response.

He stares down at his phone, “Bad news?” Veronica asks.

He stays looking at his phone, “He’s moving back.”

“Who?”

“Jughead Jones is moving back to the states.”

Veronica looks at him with her head tilted, “Is this Betty’s ex-boyfriend?”

He nods.

“So it looks like our lives just got easier. With him back in town, Betty will definitely have a reason to leave you soon and we can be together.”

Archie’s head snaps up, “What about your husband?”

Veronica smiles, “Oh he isn’t a problem. I own the company. I just let him think he runs it. I made him sign a pre-nup.”

Archie shakes his head at her and stands up, walking over to were she stands, “Such a brilliant mind.” He leans down to kiss her and pulls away saying, “Should we forgo dinner with Kevin and celebrate?”

“Why Archibald, I thought you would never ask.”

 

It’s been three days since she last heard from Jughead and she’s beginning to think it’s over. If he had wanted to call her back or even come see her, he would have. She sighs and continues to write a report on Dunder Mifflin’s holdings. Mundanely typing away she decides maybe it’s time to find another place to work at. She’s getting tired of finance writings and it’s not like she even needs to work. Jughead makes more than enough money to support them both. She looks out the window and is ashamed at herself for even thinking that. Archie comes home from Berlin in six days. And she can’t believe her time alone is coming to an end. She thinks of Archie and is dreading seeing him. Especially after she definitely cheated on him. Maybe they can save their marriage. She scoffs aloud at the idea. As if she really wants to even save the marriage.

She gets up from her desk and goes to shower, planning on meeting up with her friend Ethel for lunch later this afternoon. She puts on music that Archie has on his phone, mostly his own songs. He ears his melodic voice telling her he’ll try. She smiles at her college memories with him. They had such a good beginning but she cannot for the life of her remember good times in the past few years of their marriage. Sure, they were happy but there were too many times she wistfully thought of Jughead and his easy going ways, too many nights she got up after Archie had fallen asleep and looked through her memories of Jughead. She remembers the day she told Polly she was getting married.

 

_“Pol, can you calm down, please? You’re suppose to be happy for me,” she tries._

_“Betty, I would love to be happy for you. I really would but I can’t support this. You don’t love him.”_

_“Polly! I love him! I love Archie. So much!”_

_She can hear Polly’s eyebrows rise through the phone, “Really Betty? I know you love Archie but are you in love with him?”_

_Betty sighs, “Why are you doing this?”_

_“Betty, you cannot love him. You’re still in love with Jughead. I know you are. You shouldn’t be doing this. He’ll come home. He said so himself before he left. You can still wait for him.”_

_Betty shakes her head, “I’m not that kind of girl Polly. I’m not waiting around for love. I’m happy with Archie. We’re compatible enough that it’ll be a good marriage.”_

_“You’re making a mistake. One day, down the road when Jughead comes home, you’ll see that.”_

 

Polly was right. She had seen Jughead six months after the wedding on the streets of Brooklyn. He was walking on the opposite side of the street and she was in a cab, heading downtown. She watched him walk into their old apartment building until the cab turned the corner. She remembers almost asking the cabbie to turn back before her phone pinged with a message from Archie.

Betty received a call from Jellybean asking to meet her for lunch the next day but she declined, knowing that JB would do anything to get her and her brother back together.

 

Betty comes back to the present when she finishes her shower and she gets out, grabbing her dressing robe, out of habit when her buzzer goes off.

She goes over to the intercom and presses, “Yes?”

“Betts?”

She doesn’t even let him finish speaking before she hits the enter button.

She goes to the front door and opens it as he finishes climbing the stairs to her apartment.

“Jughead, what are you doing here?”

He looks her up and down and swallows, “This a bad time?”

She steps back into her apartment and lets him in, “Not at all. You’ll just have to watch me get ready.”

He nods and follows her to the bathroom where she begins her simple eye look.

She primes here eyelids and reaches for her eye shadow palette, dipping a brush in a matte light brown and begins her eye shadow, “I have lunch with a friend at 2:30, so I have to leave in about an hour. What brings you here?”

He’s staring at a wedding photo; Archie has his hands around her waist and is standing behind her. She’s looking at the camera a with a shy smile and he’s pressing a kiss to her cheek, Jughead looks up at her in the mirror, “This is a good photo, who took it?’

“Cheryl Blossom.”

Jughead starts laughing, “Oh good old Cheryl. You look nice. The dress isn’t what I thought you would pick.”

She shrugs, “I wasn’t very picky at the time.” She tells him. Then explains, “That made it easier. Plus, Polly was being a horrible maid of honor. She was always saying it didn’t matter what I picked because none of it was right since the groom was wrong and I just started ignoring every thing else she said. I planned our wedding without a lot of help since the only person who really wanted it was Archie’s mom.”

Jughead looks at her with confusion, “Why didn’t they want you to marry him?”

Betty laughs, “Isn’t it obvious, Juggie?”

He stays silent, indicating that it isn’t, “They wanted me to marry you, Jughead Jones.”

He chokes on his on saliva for a moment, “I didn’t come here to talk to you about your wedding. I came here to ask you if you meant it.”

“Meant it?” She wanted him to say it before she jumped to conclusions.

“Are you planning on leaving Archie?”

She’s finishing up her mascara, painting her last few lashes, before she closes the tube and places it on the counter, “Of course I did.”

“I wasn’t sure if you did. I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

Betty nods, “I was giving you your space.”

He changes the subject for a moment, “JB says hello, by the way. I think she screamed for a whole ten minutes when I filled her in on what happened the last week and a half.”

Betty smiles at that, “I miss her, so much. How is she?”

“She’s her usual annoying self. My dad wants you to come to dinner tomorrow night, if you want.”

She nods, “I’d love to see FP. I‘ve missed your family over the years. They were always so kind to me.”

“Is Archie’s family not?”

She weighs her words, “No, they are. It’s just different. Very formal. There’s not a real causal family vibe from his parents. Fred Andrews worked very hard to own his multi-million business all to have his son want to go into investing.”

Jughead nods, “That makes sense. How’s Polly?”

Betty smiles at the thought of her sister, she points to a photograph of her sister and her husband, “Polly and Jason are really good. They’re expecting.”

“Jason?”

“Jason Blossom, Cheryl’s brother. You remember him? We met him at the Gala with the Renoir exhibit, ” she explains.

Jughead nods, “Ah yes. We saw him near the Degas statue that was on loan from the Or’ Say.”

There’s a beat of silence as Betty moves into the closet; Jughead follows her.

She is looking at her clothes before Jughead hands her a few hangers. It’s a pale blue sweater, black skinny jeans, and a collard undershirt without sleeves. She looks at him questioningly.

His head nods to the floor, “With the black Manolo’s I bought you at Harrod’s.”

She starts laughing because, how is he still this good at knowing her. “Why thank you, Juggie.”

He shrugs, “I know what you like to wear to lunch.”

He kisses her forehead before leaving the room so she can change in private. She gets dressed and decides to wear her hair down.

She emerges and Jughead is lounging on her bed, he looks up at smiles, she’s pleased with how normal this all is.

“When Archie get’s back, I’ll have a conversation with him. I think he’ll be receptive to the idea of a divorce. I can’t see him begging me to stay when he has Veronica.”

“Veronica?”

Betty nods, “She works at his company and I’ve seen them together. They have a real chemistry that he and I don’t have.”

“Like how we do?”

She smiles, “Exactly.” She pecks him on the lips. Then freezes, “I’m so sorry. We haven’t had that conversation yet, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

He laughs, “Betts, it’s okay. I trust you. Kiss me whenever you feel like it, okay?”

She lets out a sigh of relief. “Do you want to come to lunch?”

“Who are you meeting?”

“Ethel, you remember her, don’t you?”

He nods, “I do, are you sure you want me there?”

She laughs and reaches for his hand to pull him off the bed, “Of course I do, Juggie.”

 

They walk side by side because too much in public isn’t her style. He’s thinking of a random song by Joni Mitchell that he used to listen to when he was missing her. The notes filter through his mind, as do the lyrics. He agrees; he really doesn’t know love at all.

If he did, he wouldn’t be here, escorting Betty to lunch as an ex, he would be the adoring husband who talks about how excited they are to try for children. He wouldn’t be walking beside her, hesitating to take her hand. He wouldn’t be wondering why she’s fidgeting with her collar, he would be reassuring her it looks wonderful because he knows how much she hates the word perfect.

A man walks by them, randomly on the street and he gives Betty a once over, Jughead moves closer to her to ward him off.

He’s protective of something he cannot rightly call his own. Not that he ever would, Betty belongs to herself and whom she decides to share herself with is her decision.

She tilts her head to a café up ahead, warning him of their destination and he smirks. It’s one of his favorite places.

Ethel is waiting at a table, engrossed in a book, as usual.

Betty walks over to the table and sits down, “Ethel, you don’t mind if Juggie joins us do you?”

Without looking up, “Sure Betty, if Jughead appears, he can join us.”

Betty smiles at him and motions for him to sit.

The chair scraping across the tile alerts Ethel to his actual presence, “No, there’s no way! You’re a liar Jughead Jones. You told me you were never coming back to Brooklyn so long as Betty was Betty Andrews!”

He scratches his neck and feels Betty’s eyes on him, “That was a long time ago Ethel, I visit Brooklyn all the time. You know this. I see you almost every time I come home.”

Ethel laughs as Betty says, “What? You’ve been back and didn’t tell me?”

He pick up a menu and starts looking at it, “I thought you were happily married. I didn’t think you would want to see me. Much less have me meet your husband.”

Ethel shakes her head, “That’s the funny thing though, you and Archie would really hit it off. Clearly you both have great taste.”

Betty laughs as he rolls his eyes, “Thanks Ethel.”

Lunch continues much the same over the course of three hours. Betty’s phone pings, as they’re all laughing, and its s text from Archie, _Boarding now. See you soon.”_

She sighs and pockets her phone.

Jughead is looking at her, “Everything okay?”

She smiles, “Just a flight info text. Nothing more.”

Jughead freezes. Archie’s on his way back. He shouldn’t be here.

Ethel looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

Betty places her hand on Jughead’s arm, “The flight is seven hours. He doesn’t land till later tonight. We have some time left. Even if he is, apparently early.”

He shakes his head, “I should really go though. I have writing to get done. “

Ethel deflates as Betty’s spine straightens.

Betty’s phone goes off again. She pulls it out and sees her mother’s name on the screen. She bites her lip, knowing she has to take the call.

“Mom, can I call you back? I’m busy.”

“Betty. Why did your father have a list of New York divorce lawyers on his laptop?”

Right to the point, as usual, with Alice Cooper.

Betty looks at Jughead as she tells her mother, “Because, I’m divorcing Archie. I don’t love him and I’m ready to leave him.”

Her mother sighs, “Has Jughead finally come back home to Brooklyn?”

Betty looks at her plate of pasta primavera confused, “Yeah, he has, how’d you know?”

“Jellybean and I snapchat. She’s my best friend on the app, didn’t you know?”

Betty rolls her eyes, “Only you would be best friends on snapchat with my ex-boyfriend’s sister. Bye mom.”

“Love you Betty. Tell Jughead to call his father!”

The call ends and Betty is speechless. Episodes of the Twilight Zone have made more sense than that phone call. “Jug, my mom says to call your dad.”

“Good one, Betts.”

The pair says their goodbyes to Ethel, leaving the casual lunch in mostly good spirits. They walk back to her apartment in relative silence.

“What did your mom really want?”

“Oh! She said to tell you to call your dad, I wasn’t kidding about that and that she knew everything from JB’s snaps.”

Jughead is silent for a few beats, “I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that both our families have been this close all these years or that,” he pauses, “nope. That one is taking the cake right now.”

Betty laughs at him and takes his hand to pull him close and place a kiss on his cheek. She stops outside her apartment and looks at him.

“Out with it then,” he tells her.

“I need to sort a few things out with Archie tonight. I can’t have you up there again if I’m going to look at him and tell him I’m leaving him. Especially when I’m leaving him for my ex-boyfriend I never stopped loving.”

Jughead smiles at her and pulls her into his embrace, “You’re too good for this world Betty Cooper.”

She mumbles into his chest, “It’s Andrews.”

Hi kisses the top of her head, “Not for much longer, then you’ll be Jones.”

Betty laughs and cannot remember how she functioned without having this man in her life.

“How about we get a cup of coffee at Cousin’s and sit for a while, I’m not ready to leave you,” he suggests.

“I’d love to.”

They walk the few blocks to get to the bakery and they sit in comfortable silence until Betty asks, “Why did you stop replying to my emails?”

He takes a sip of his coffee and looks into the mug, hoping it has the answers he’s looking for, “I wanted more than a few emails a week. Plus, seeing your automatic signature of ‘Betty Andrews’ really screwed with my head. I wanted so badly to be home with you.” He looks up at her, “I guess I thought we would be together when the timing was right. I didn’t know you would run off and get married when I was gone. I thought at the very least we would be apart for a year. Your engagement really hurt me but it was the wedding that really twisted the knife.”

She glances away from him tears in her eyes, “I’m going to tell you something I’ve never told anyone.”

Jughead nods, “You can trust me.”

“Promise me you wont think I’m horrible when I tell you this.”

“Never Betts,” he assures her.

She takes a deep breath; “I was pregnant when Archie and I got married, about six weeks along. I was so; I don’t know how to describe it. It’s not that I wouldn’t have loved the child but it. Jughead. It wasn’t yours. That was the problem. So when I had my miscarriage for natural reasons, I was relieved. Relieved because I wouldn’t be tied to Archie my whole life. Shortly after that, I got the IUD and I’ve only regretted having that put in once.”

“Did it hurt or something?”

Betty nods, “It did but that’s not it. Jughead, I want your child. I’m selfish and

I wished that night we were together last week that I didn’t have it. Because then I would always have something of yours.”

Jughead is silent for a moment. He thinks about it; coming home to a woman he loves, belly swelled with proof of their love for each other. He imagines walking up to her, pressing a kiss to her cheek then leaning down to kiss her stomach. Placing his hand against her skin and looking her in the eyes and their child kicks his hand.

 

Betty speaks, “See, I told you, it’s horrible.” Taking his silence for disgust or horror.

He looks directly into her eyes, “This entire situation is filled with things that are horrible but I just got to imagine you pregnant with our child and looking radiant, trust me. It’s not horrible.”

Betty sighs, “Thank you.”

“I’m sure it’s horrible for Archie to have been competing with another man his entire marriage but not to me, you could never be horrible.”

 

Archie is taking his bag from the overhead in first class and gets Veronica’s down for her, always the gentleman.

“I’m sad to be home Archie, I won’t see you everyday for a while,” Veronica says.

“I’m talking to Betty tonight. It might be sooner than you think, Ronnie.”

They move off the plane and into the customs section of the airport, separating for the time being.

Archie watches Veronica at her agent and imagines a life with her, filled with Galas, charity events and the like. He can’t say he hates the idea of it. But then there’s his quiet life with Betty, where he always feels something missing.

He shuffles into the town car with Kevin and Veronica, mostly silent, save for a few comments made by the other passengers.

They pull into Kevin’s street first and he’s out within a second or so just o see his own bed. Archie completely gets that.

“Brooklyn, 5th and Union,” Veronica tells the driver.

She looks to him to question her, he doesn’t.

They pull into his neighborhood a while later; he unlaces his fingers with hers, something he didn’t even know he did, and exists the car.

He’s getting his luggage into the building when he hears Ronnie’s voice exclaim, “See you soon Archikins, I’m so happy we closed the account!”

 

He nods at her and moves into the interior of the building. Climbing the few sets of stairs leading to his home. He opens the door to a scene he would have never expected.

Betty is lounging in workout leggings, the scent of fresh rolls wafts through the air, he sees she’s watching an old movie, might even be Sabrina by the look of it.

“Betty? I’m home!”

She whips her head over to the sound of his voice and he sees tear streaks on her cheeks, “Are you okay, Betty?”

She nods, her voice breaks on the first words, “Of course, I’m so happy you’re home.”

Archie nods and moves into the bedroom to put his suitcase in the closet. He comes back into the living room, watching her with guarded eyes.

“Betty?” He says.

 

She looks away from the bookshelf, her husband wants her attention, “Yeah?”

“Do you want to talk now or later?”

She swallows, “Now Arch, I think it would be best.”

He nods and sits opposite of her, “I think we need counseling.”

Betty laughs at him, “Oh Archie, counseling cannot fix that we aren’t in love with each other.”

There are a few moments of silence. Archie absorbs her words. He thinks of the last few months, even the years of their marriage; she’s right.

“And since we aren’t in love with each other..?” he asks.

“We get divorced. I don’t think it will get messy but we should be with who we want to be with, you know?”

Betty states it so matter-of-factly he’s surprised he didn’t think of it sooner. Veronica was getting a divorce; naturally Archie would need to get one too.

He looks at her, “Whom do you want to be with?”

He looks at her as her eyes move away form him and onto the bookshelf, “Oh yes, my mistake. Jughead Jones. The writer dude to keep appearing everywhere I look, it seems.”

Betty looks at him as if he’s struck her, “What? Did you think I didn’t know?”

She shakes her head.

He scoffs, “Alice got drunk one year and kept talking about him, said it was the happiest she had ever seen you, including our wedding day. And that made me feel so great, Betty. I’m sure you can imagine.”

She cringes, ”So, yes, I know. And I’m not even mad I don’t think. We were stupid and we thought we knew everything. “

She nods at him, “Are you going to Veronica?”

He looks away from her, unable to meet her stare, “Yeah.”

“I’m happy you’ve found someone who makes you feel the way Jughead makes me feel.”

He looks back at her, expecting to see hatred or contempt in her eye, but all he finds is vulnerability and honesty. Classic Betty.

He could never stay mad at her.

“When did you know?”

She tilts her head, confused, “Hmm?”

“When did you know you loved him more than me?”

He watches her take a deep breath, she’s deciding between the truth and a lie, he can tell.

Her hands keeps flinching, a tell tale sign of her real emotions.

“Jughead wasn’t like you. He was never easygoing. Everything was bickering and heated discussions. Jughead was raw emotion. He never said he wanted kids, but I knew he was scared of being a bad dad rather than not wanting them.. He never said he loved me just to say it; there was always a purpose behind it. It never lost it’s meaning.” She glances out the window, “He never asked me to be more than I am. He loved, loves, me like this. He told me one day,” she chuckles.

“One day he said to me ‘Betty, you are my silver lining, whatever has happened in my past; I did something to deserve you, even though I know I don’t.”

She smiles, “Jughead Jones made me feel alive and more at home than my own sister. He became a part of me in a way I never knew I needed.”

Archie nods, compelled by her story, “And?”

Betty looks at him then, “And he made me feel like I was his queen but in a way that made me his absolute equal.”

“And I didn’t?”

She shakes her head, “No, Archie. You didn’t.”

Archie is silent.

“I married you because I thought that Jughead would move on from me. I was the one who knew he would out grow me. It was wrong of me, and I am so sorry for that. You deserve to marry someone who wants to marry you.”

Archie looks into her eyes, “I think it’s clear what happened.” He waits, “I love you Betty, and you love me but we aren’t in love with each other. And we haven’t been.”

She nods, “Exactly Arch, exactly!”

“We should be with the people who make us better, not the person that keeps us the same. “

Betty smiles at him, “Thank you.”

He stands from the chair he sat in earlier, “I’m going to start packing, okay?”

She looks at him, “I’ll start that too.”

“You don’t want the apartment?”

Betty scoffs, “Jughead’s apartment is so much nicer than this one. And I’m pretty sure Veronica’s is as well.”

Archie flushes, “See? So we should just sell this apartment and call it good.”

“Good? Betty you own this place.”

She nods, “Yes I do but I think I cheated on you first so, please, let’s split.”

Archie laughs, “Nope. Betty, seriously, at least let’s do a 30/70 split”

He knows she can tell he isn’t giving up, “Fine, split mentioned by A. Andrews has been accepted.”

 

 

Betty is packing a bag with her things to take to Jughead’s and Archie is doing the same. She looks up at him and sees him handing her a sweater, “What is it about Veronica?”

He freezes, “I don’t—“

“I just want to know more about her. I love you Archie. You’re still my friend. So, as a friend, tell me about her.”

Archie smiles, “Veronica is amazing. She’s got this charisma that makes you want to be around her. She has this way of knowing exactly what you need before you do.”

Betty nods, encouraging him to go on.

“When I’m with her, I feel like I can do anything. She’s just someone who makes me feel alive, and driven. She’s great.”

Betty smiles, “I’m happy you found her, Archie. I really am.”

She finishes packing her bag, goes to grab her book off the bookshelf and looks over to Archie standing in the kitchen, getting a bottle of water, “We’ll be okay, wont we Archie?”

“Of course we will Betty.”

With that final thought she exits the apartment and sets off to her favorite place in Brooklyn.

 

Jughead’s finishing a chapter on his new book, he’s typing with renewed passion, suddenly inspired with the new developments in his life. He hears someone struggling with the lock, which means it’s his sister or Betty.   He’s really hoping it’s the latter; he doesn’t want to see JB right now.

He goes to the door as it opens at is met with a blonde bombshell holding a bag on her shoulder. Eyes filled with hope, cheeks flushed from the walk up the stairs, and hesitation teeming through her.

“Betts?”

“Hi Jug, I’m moving in, is that okay?”

He stares at her, “I wish you never moved out.”

He takes her bag off her shoulder and takes it into their bedroom; he can hear her following behind him.

He looks at her when he sets down the bag, “Is this real?”

Betty smiles at him and holds up her left hand, it’s blank.

“It’s real Jughead, I’m all yours.”

He walks over to her and picks her up in his arms and spins around with her, “I finally have you back, after three years, I can finally have Betty Cooper all to myself.”

She’s laughing, a beautiful noise, filled with such happiness.

He sets her down and hold her face between his hands, “When?”

“We have a meeting with the lawyer tomorrow, since it’s mutual and we just want each other to be happy, we should have our divorce in two months.”

He kisses her; with every amount of love his has in his cells, just so he can convey how much he loves her.

“I’ve only been this happy once before.”

“When?” She asks.

“When I realized I loved you, that moment is the only moment that comes close to this feeling.”

She laughs, “And when did you realize that?”

He steps away from her, allowing her to begin unpacking, “It was a day like any other one, and you were putting on mascara while I laid in bed, scrolling through my phone, and you said something about me not being able to do that when we have children. My fingers stopped moving and I looked up to you in the bathroom, you said it so casually that we had a future; that you thought about a future with me, of all people. That’s when I knew.”

Betty smiles at him and puts a few things away in her drawers, “I knew I loved you when you went to your parent’s house for a few hours and rushed back to me when I thought something was wrong with me but I just had really bad diarrhea.”

Jughead laughs, “That’s it, that’s the moment? Can it be a different moment?”

She smiles, “Nope.”

Some time later, she’s relaxing in her, newly reclaimed, bath when he comes in with a glass of red wine, “A Malbec for my lady.”

He hands it to her and she smiles up at him, “You can join me if you’d like, Jug.”

He shakes his head, “I have a few more paragraphs to finish up for tonight and you need to let your back muscles relax, do you want me to put of some music for you?”

She nods, “Chopin, please?”

She watches him move to her phone, unlock it and play her Spotify, soothing piano fills their bathroom, “Enjoy Betty.”

Her eyes close to truly soak in the moment, she’s happy. Happier than she has been in years and it’s entirely from Jughead returning to Brooklyn all those months ago. She opens her eyes and they land on her engagement ring. It’s simple; nothing like the statement ring Archie gave her, no. Jughead proposed two months after their divorce finalized, Veronica and Archie married three weeks later. No one was surprised.

Her new ring was a simple opal ring surrounded with tiny diamonds, she couldn’t think of a better ring to sit on her hand for the rest of her life. She thinks back to when Jughead proposed and almost tears up.

 

_It had been a day like any other; she came home from work and found Jughead typing away at the breakfast nook, he favorite place to work._

_He looked up at her, “I’ve got one page left and then I’m yours for the evening, okay?”_

_She smiled at him and went to change into a different outfit, there was a huge party that night for Polly and Jason, expecting again._

_Betty was in her dressing robe when he entered the room, he stood in the doorway, watching her do her make up, she had an odd sense of déjà vu, and “You look beautiful.”_

_She turned her eyes away from her eyelids in the mirror and looked at him, “Thank you handsome, do you want to shower and then I can do my hair while you’re in and we can talk about our days?”_

_He nodded and began to shred his clothing._

_He was in the shower and Betty kept talking about how happy she was for Archie and Veronica, “I’m just so pleased we are all in such good places, you know? They’re married now Jughead! Can you believe it? It’s like, you coming home was the best thing that ever happened for them.”_

_Jughead could feel himself getting more and more envious over Archie, yet again, for always taking what he wanted without any regard for those around him. Jughead slammed the water off in the shower, threw a towel around his waist and stalked over to the closet._

_“Jug? What’s wrong?”_

_She didn’t get a reply because he was too busy grabbing something from the closet, “Please Jughead, I truly am happy for them! Archie is just a friend now! I love you!”_

_He emerged from the closet shaking his head, “I know you do Betty, which is why I need to do this.”_

_She looked at him and stepped away from the closet entrance, “What are you talking about?”_

_He chuckled to himself, “Betty, I have loved you since I was twenty one. There were days where I would wake up and think I dreamt you into reality. You are this ethereal being who deigns to walk among common people. I love your family, I have learned to love your parents, and I have even grown to love Archie Fucking Andrews who stole you away from me. But I cannot live another minute without you knowing that I want you to be the mother of my children. You are all I dream about. Betty Cooper, I want to marry you and if you want the same thing, I will happily give you this ring.”_

_He didn’t get down on one knee, he didn’t ask her to marry him; he gave her a choice. Something that not many people did for her. Betty watched as he put a box down on the bathroom counter, “I don’t need an answer right now, but I couldn’t wait any longer to ask you.”_

_Of course she broke down crying and thanked the gods for primer when her make up didn’t smudge, she turned to him and said, “I’m not putting it on myself, Jughead. Honestly, do I have to do everything?”_

_He laughed through his tears and kissed her, “Never Betts, never.”_

_He took the ring and placed it on her hand, which is where the beautiful gem rested now._

Polly and Jason were overjoyed when they showed up to the party engaged, they were so happy they didn’t even notice that the attention had been taken off on their new baby.

 

She sighed happily and decided she had soaked long enough, standing up and stepping out of the bath, she reached over to stop the music, signaling she was finished.

Moments later Jughead appeared, ready for their evening activity of Netflix or Hulu, depending on the mood. She figured now was a good of time as any.

She changed into her nightclothes and settled into the couch before he came over and did the same.

Her phone vibrated with a text from her mom asking about holiday plans. She could wait another few hours for a response.

“Jughead?”

He was picking their show of the evening, “Hmm?”

She placed her hand over his on the controller, “I want kids.”

He looked at her, “I do too Betty, we’ve talked about this.”

She tilted her head, “Juggie, I went to the doctor today and I removed my IUD.”

He stared at her, expression blank, “You what?”

“I got my I—‘

“I heard you Betty, don’t you think you should have talked to me about this?”

She broke eye contact fist, “I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal.”

She hears him sigh rather than sees it, “You always know how to ruin my surprises.”

She looks up at him, “What?”

“I had this entire weekend planned out, you know? I was going to have this long conversation with you about marriage and children and convince you we were ready, but as usual, you beat me to the punch.”

She smiles, “We can still have the conversation, you can still surprise me!”

He laughs, “Trust me, I know I can.”

 

Christmas comes slowly; she’s ready to be at her parent’s house, away from work, ready to relax. She and Jughead get off the train and are greeted by her parents, “Betty!”

She hugs her mom and sees Jughead being embraced by her dad, “Don’t worry, we took care of it.”

She tilts her head, “Took care of what dad?”

Jughead looks at her, “My wifi needs, I didn’t know what their bandwidth speed was and asked if they could upgrade on my dime since I need to work this weekend.”

She rolls her eyes, “Right. Bandwidth. How could I forget.”

They all enter the Cooper household as a picturesque foursome, naturally having Jughead and Betty in her old room was entirely acceptable, especially now that she’s a woman married.

Jughead turned to her as he places their luggage on the floor and smiled, “Do you remember the last time we were here?”

She smiles at the memory.

It was Christmas and Jughead snuck into her room when Santa was supposed to be arriving and she told him story after story about her childhood, he listened and loved every moment of it, he told her he couldn’t wait to make those memories for their children.

She nods, “I do. I missed you over these last Christmases; it hasn’t been the same. Even Jason missed you.”

Jughead laughs aloud at that, “Well, he’s going to be sick of me, I plan on being around for every Christmas from here on out.”

She places her arms around his neck and kisses him, “When does your family arrive?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, then we are all together for five days.”

He smiles, “You’re going to love my present. “

 

It’s a few hours later and they’re all watching The Holiday, much to Jughead’s dismay, and drinking spiked hot cocoa.

There’s a knock at the door and Hal goes to answer it, a booming, “Finally!” fills the house, followed by laughter and greetings.

They all get up to see that FP and Gladys have arrived, Alice welcoming them, “It’s been entirely too long since we last spoke Gladys!”

The other woman chuckles, “Really Alice, our weekly conversations weren’t enough over the years?”

Betty looks at them with a cautious look, “Weekly conversations?”

Alice laughs, “Oh Betty, you had to have known I talked to Gladys the entire time you two weren’t together! We became such close friends—Your father and FP go on a camping trip every few months!”

Jughead startles, “I’m sorry, but what the actual fuck? You all still talked even though we weren’t together?”

FP nods, “Of course we did son, we all knew you two would end up together, it seemed pointless to end our friendships or pause them. We like each other, is that such a bad thing?”

Betty shakes her head, “It is when your parents hide things from you and expect you to be okay with it. I’m going for a walk.”

Jughead watches her move toward the front door between the other adults and soon follows suit, “I’m going with her.”

Gladys places a hand on his shoulder, “Honestly Jug, we didn’t mean to hurt you two, we thought it would be best.”

“You thought lying to your adult children about speaking to one another was best? Not the best idea you’ve all had, I’m sure,” He walks out the door, grabbing an extra scarf for Betty.

He catches up with her easily enough and walks beside her.

“I always wondered why my parents never got along with Fred and Mary after a while. I guess its because they were spending so much time with your parents.”

He shakes his head, “I asked all of them if that knew anything about you. They lied to me. Alice had to have talked about you. I’m so annoyed.”

She makes a noise in agreement.

“They know how to ruin a perfect night,” he says after a few blocks of silence.

“Perfect? We were just watching a movie.”

“Every night is perfect night with you,” he tells her.

“You are such a sap!”

They walk quietly back to the house, relaxed and unhurried.

Betty heads up the stairs when she realizes everyone else is in bed, and lets Jughead hand their coats.

She’s perched on the edge of the bed when he joins her, “Ready for bed?”

She nods, “I need to tell you something.”

He sits next to her, “Of course Betts, I’m listening.”

She inhales, “I know we’ve been planning this wedding to be lavish and extravagant but I don’t want that. Especially not when I have news.”

He furrows his brow, “News?”

“Juggie, I know we’ve wanted this for a while but I need to tell you that our patience has finally paid off.” She pauses, “I’m pregnant.”

He looks into her eyes, searching for lies or something else, “Truly?”

She smiles, “I took five tests and all of them were positive, I made an appointment for January 3rd when we get back home.”

He kisses her, “I’ve never been happier,” he tells her after he breaks the kiss.

“What was the other thing you wanted?”

She tilts her head, “I thought we could get married, now. Like this week now.”

His eyes almost pop out of his skull, “But we have a whole wedding almost planned in six months.”

“I will be huge by then, Jug. I want to marry while I don’t look like a beached whale.”

He laughs at her, “When do you want to get married?”

“Cheryl is coming tomorrow and I thought since we are all here we could do it the next morning. I packed a dress and a suit for you. Please don’t be mad.”

“Mad? Why would I be mad?”

She sighs, “Archie always hated my surprises, it’s why I stopped doing them for birthdays and anniversaries.”

“Betts, I love your surprises, I am so fucking excited to marry you that I don’t care when or where it happens.”

She smiles and reaches forward to hug him, to make sure he’s still really here.

He breaks the embrace, “Come on Betts, time for bed. We have a lot of work to do in the morning.”

Betty chuckles softly and moves from the bed to change into her nightclothes, “I love you Juggie.”

“I love you too Betts, “ he tells her as he leaves the room to brush his teeth.

 

The next morning they are both roused by the scent of bacon and a shrill voice announcing her arrival.

Jughead groans, “Must she always make an entrance, it’s 7:30, I thought she wasn’t getting here til tonight?”

Betty snuggles deeper into his chest, “I don’t know Jug, but I’m freezing. Can we just stay here for a little bi—“

“Betty Cooper!” The door flies open and reveals Cheryl in all her glory; arms crossed and eyes a flame.

Betty lifts her head from Jughead’s embrace and looks over his shoulder, “Cheryl!”

“Are you getting out of bed or do I get to join our little spooning session or is it a forking session and I interrupted?”

Jughead turns over and looks at her, “I know better than to fork in Alice Cooper’s home.”

Betty gets out of bed, and goes to hug her, “I miss you. LA is too far, come back to the East Coast.”

Cheryl laughs, “Oh Betty, I got use to the sunshine, I don’t think I can leave it.”

Betty shakes her head, “So why are you early?”

A mischievous grin graces her features, “Well, I got your text about the wedding being on and I couldn’t wait another minute to see you both together again. So I got my private jet and came straight here. We have so much to get done!”

Betty lets nervousness creep into her body, “Cheryl, can I just let you control this and I do nothing? I trust you so much, I know you’re going to do an amazing job.”

Cheryl sighs, “Betty, Betty, Betty, as if I don’t already have everything on retainer just in case this moment ever came. I’ve had the Jones wedding planned since I met up with you in London.”

Betty relaxes and wonders how she got this lucky, “Thanks Cher. I’m happy you’re my sister in law.”

Cheryl pulls her in for a quick hug then releases her, “I must be off, I have a wedding to put together!”

“Does she sleep?” Jughead asks.

Betty laughs and falls back into bed, “Cheryl doesn’t know how to not be 150% of herself at all times. You know this.”

“Betts, I think I blocked out a lot of time but I actually don’t remember meeting her in London?”

Betty shifts to face him on the bed, “That’s because you didn’t. She was in London with her family and you were super busy with work. I met her at the Savoy by myself.”

 

_She enters the hotel and remembers hearing an overexcited, “Betty Fucking Cooper!!”_

_Betty turns toward the voice and smiles, a redheaded girl is walking at her with such excitement, “Cheryl!”_

_They embrace and are led directly into the tearoom for afternoon tea, “Betty this tea is just the most, the absolute most! You must have had an afternoon tea before, right?”_

_She chuckles, “I have, although nothing this extravagant. This must have cost a fortune!”_

_Cheryl shrugs, “I wouldn’t know, I bill the room for everything. Daddy is taking care of everything, as usual.”_

_Betty nods and sips her tea, rose garden today; earl grey is saved for quiet evenings with Jughead._

_“So Betty, tell me everything! Are you dating an English lad? Have you gotten pissed?”_

_She laughs at Cheryl’s attempt on being English, “I’ve done one of those things. I got really drunk a few weeks ago and was almost caught drinking on the tube. Such a fun night. I was out with—“_

_“The boy I need to know everything about?”_

_Cheryl has her signature look on her face, “Tell me Betty, you know I need to know.”_

_“He’s an author. A struggling one but Cheryl, I’ve read his stuff and he just needs a shot with a publishing house that will actually take his work. He’s brilliant.”_

_“And?”_

_“The sex is amazing. Truly mind blowing. He’s American and lives in Brooklyn. I met him walking on the street about a month ago. I’ve been inseparable from him ever since. He makes me feel like I can write for any paper in the world. We have such chemistry.”_

_She tilts her head, “Is it like that with Archie?”_

_Betty looks at Cheryl, “I don’t know but I know I never felt this with Archie. Ever. Jughead is just. God. There is something about him that makes me feel like I’m on fire, Cher. His soul, that he likes to call as black as his coffee, is so beautiful. He loves his family. He is so close with his sister. His parents went through such a rough patch when he was younger but they overcame it.”_

_Cheryl smiles, “My, my, my, I never thought I would see the day where Betty said more than ‘he’s lovely’ about a boy.”_

_Betty flushes, “Is it that obvious?”_

_“That you’re in love with him?”_

_She nods._

_“Absolutely.”_

_She sighs, “We’re going on a weekend to New York next week, since I’ve never been and he has some business to do with his publisher, so maybe it’ll be good for us to get out of our little bubble and come back to reality.”_

_“Betty. It isn’t a bad thing that you love him. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t fooling yourself into being over Archie.”_

_“Over Archie?”_

_“Come on Betty, you deserve better than Archie Andrews, and you know it. This Jughead sounds like the real deal. “_

_Betty smiles, “I think he is Cheryl. I really do.”_

_Cheryl flips her hair, “Now that we’ve talked about your international love life, let’s get back to important things like Jason and Polly.”_

_Betty remembers leaving that tea with such a big smile and coming home to Jughead wanting to make love to him instead of just having sex, which is exactly what she did._

 

“I remember that night. That was a particularly wonderful night in for us,” Jughead tells her.

She leans up and kisses his nose, “Come on, we have a wedding to throw together!”

 

It’s a few days later, Betty is happily holding hands with her, dare she think it, husband. It’s been a whirlwind of happiness and heart eyes. She didn’t know it was possible to be like this; to have a wedding be such a joyous occasion. The last time she married, it felt like everyone had been faking their smiles and perhaps they were. Jughead leaned over to kiss her head, she felt herself relax even more into his embrace on the couch.

“Betty, can you help me in the kitchen?”

She sighs and gets off her place with Jughead to help her mother, “What’s up?”

“Can you chop the vegetables for dinner tonight and ask Jughead to help your father with the grilling? You know how he can get distracted.”

Betty smiles and gets out a cutting board. She grabs the zucchini, onion and carrots that are going in her mom’s meal.

She looks up to see Jughead coming in the kitchen with a small smiles on his lips, she can imagine he’s thinking of what their life will be like in a few months, years even. She gets a thrill of excitement in her system at the thought.

“Can you help my dad with grilling? Mom wants you to keep an eye on him,” she tells him.

He nods, “Of course.” He walks behind her and embraces her under her arms that are methodically chopping vegetables, caressing her barely there bump. He presses a kiss to her cheek with a quiet, “Love you.”

She smiles and refocuses on her task at hand instead of letting her mind wander.

He mom comes over, “So not that we all aren’t shrilled about you two getting married, what was the rush?”

Betty shrugs, “Everyone was here, the timing felt right, you know?”

Alice lets the lie slide and stoically nods her head, “The zucchini is too thick, thinner slices, Betty.”

 

Jughead exits the house and sees Hal struggling to even light the barbeque, “Need a hand?” he asks around a laugh.

Hal looks up at him with relief, “Please.”

Jughead nods and goes over to it, lighting it within seconds, “Let’s let this heat up and have us a beer, Jug.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Hal pulls two Stella’s out of a cooler and hands one to Jughead. “To the new addition to the family.”

Jughead pauses, while Hal laughs, “You thought we wouldn’t put it together, did you?”

He swallows, “Mr. Cooper, you know how much—“

Hal laughs, “We aren’t mad Jughead. The timing was too perfect. Plus Alice and I have been waiting for you two to surprise us with a new baby for a while now. “

Jughead lets out a sigh of relief, “I’m happy to hear that.”

“When is she due?”

Jughead shrugs, “We have our first appointment on the 3rd when we get back to the city.”

“What are you hoping for?”

Jughead smiles and looks at Hal, “Healthy.”

Hal laughs, “Good answer.” He slaps him on the back and says, “Lets get some grilling done.”

And that’s the end of that conversation.

 

Betty lays down next to Jughead after dinner and dessert are long over, smiling.

He turns over to face her, “They know.”

Her brow furrows, “Who knows what?”

“Your parents know you’re pregnant.”

Panic seeps into her body and it must show on her face because Jughead is saying, “Betty, they’re happy for us. Hal gave me the slap on the back and said that they’ve been waiting for us to bring home a baby for a while, apparently.”

She smiles shakily, “They’re really happy for us?”

Jughead surges forward to kiss her, “I promise, they are both so happy for us.”

 

They’re on the train back to the city and Betty get’s a text from Polly, _I told you so._

Betty laughs, shows Jughead the message, “She’s right. She did tell you so.”

He leans over and kisses her cheek while Betty smirks, “I knew she would be. I wanted her to be right.”

 

 


End file.
